User talk:Hypno-disc
Welcome Hi, In Hungary it's 1 hour later than GMT, so any of your suggested times would be just fine. Any invited mates would just bump the game itself :) I don't happen to own Legends but Crusader, so we should just stick to SH2. I use the title 'II. Zsolt' in my games (Zsolt the Second in English, pronouncing my name is a hard task either :))) ). As with servers, you don't need to have a password to play multiplayer. In fact, you can set up one on any hosted games to limit availability for others. That means, that if you have the server-specific code, you can enter the game. It's just simple. We can get round to playing apparently today in your suggested time interval, if I can get the multiplayer in my SH2 work. We just need to decide whether of us will host the server. I can do the task I think, but if we meet on the network, we can test if the other notices a setup server. Nevertheless, it should be just fine :) I'm sure I will let my name in the formula above, but I'll let you know if there is anything important. Please give me a sitrep if things are a subject to change. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 12:18, January 11, 2013 (UTC) I'm fine with today's 3.30 GMT, so we can have an intro game if you have spare time then:D I also have time on Saturday, Sunday is a little hard to make free, as I have exams next week. Nevertheless, I'm at your command both today and Sat. I won't be using any mods during gameplay, but rather my skills and intellect to bring down the opposition, so expect me anytime you want :D See you on the battlefield, Ixsc15 (talk) 13:18, January 11, 2013 (UTC) You were meaning 3:30pm (15:30) right? If I misunderstood this and you truly meant 3.30 at Saturday's dawn, I'd stick to your latter suggestion. Correct me if I was wrong :) No problem then, I was just confused about tonight, as 3.30 is right in the afternoon (English is not my mother language :) ) Anyway, let's have two games then. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 13:47, January 11, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: One important thing for multiplayer games: computer lords cannot be added to the gameplay as opposed to Kingmaker. Take this into account, so we're most likely to play as allies against a real human player some time. Hi, I'm online under the name 'Cassius II'. The password for the server is 'strongholdwiki', exclusively. See you there! Ixsc15 (talk) 15:34, January 11, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I got your message, but I noticed it way too late to react. Since there's no other option (at the moment), could we play in this evening as you suggested? Basically I'm free in the entire day, so I can adjust my time to you, if you'd prefer to play in another time :) Sorry for the inconvenience. By the way, I have completed the first half of mission 6 in the Path of War. A long time ago, I completed the mission in the suggested order: got disposed of Olaf, grabbed enough estates from Edwin, then laid the final siege. This time, I decided to twist this and first prepared against Edwin. To accomplish this, I first had to make sure Olaf won't terrorize me with his troops, so 20 archers and a dozen spearmen with 6 catapults made this job. Sometimes I had to reinforce this group, but eventually it held out. The catapults were targeting the mercenary post and the campfire, so few recruits came out. The spearmen were guarding the archers and they were sent to clear the enemy iron mines. Edwin was defeated by 30 archers and 10 catapults, levelling the entire wall section and some outer buildings. With this victory, I got around 15k gold, numerous stone, pitch, bows and spears and my castle was resited to Edwin's one, leaving my former castle as an ally. After a short time, I gained all but two estates of Edwin's, so I had completed two quests so far. This caused to taunt Olaf and prepare two invasions in different sizes. I had to quickly rebuild the foothold on the small peninsula and construct my defense line. Fortunately, my huge stockpile of bows and the garrison at my former castle (65-70 archers) came in handy, so I prepared the defense with only 30 archers and the catapults, while the other army rushed home. Olaf's vangaurd assembled at the east side of his castle then waited in front of the marsh. The smaller army was quickly decimated, but the large army was just rushing there when my 'Long March' of archers arrived. I could overtake the army and fortified a position just north to the bridge, so most of the soldiers died while crossing the two bridges. The remnants of the army (many laddermen and a few other troops) started the siege by a siege camp, which was erected a bit out of range, so my catapults could only destroy it after three enemy catapults rolled out to serve as targets for my archers. The laddermen and their comrades died very soon then. I didn't have to recapture any more estates, so I prepared the siege of Olaf. I set the ally to be offensive, which didn't do much. I noticed that he needs one more hovel, so added one, and as peasants came, my ally started to build an army of archers and spearmen. A small band of archers arrived first as harassment, but eventually a small siege force arrived with two catapults. I was busy replacing the fallen spearmen, so I let the allied force to break in. Olaf was killed then by numerous spearmen and I completed the mission. Sorry for the long post, but it's just awesome how diffferently can such a mission end :) Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 08:59, January 12, 2013 (UTC) Hi, Affirmative, I will host the server under the name 'Cassius II', with the same 'strongholdwiki' password. I'm awaiting you at 6.30! I suggest we discuss the map after you have joined to the server. (Easter egg: the game greets me like this: 'Greetings, Lord Caz!' :D ) Ixsc15 (talk) 17:57, January 12, 2013 (UTC) That's fine, I'm looking forward for a 2v2 game. It's a pity I don't know any friends who could play with us, but never mind:) For a time suggestion for next week's match I have to wait till Monday or Tuesday, since I've got exams to accomplish at the uni. I'll notify you if I can come up with one. Cheers Ixsc15 (talk) 18:05, January 12, 2013 (UTC) Hi, That's fine, working out our coop strategy is a great idea:) I think that Mr B and Ryan will very likely get used to the game, so that would be just useful. Let the game begin, Ixsc15 (talk) 19:00, January 12, 2013 (UTC) Try hosting a game, it keeps me throwing out over and over if possible. Cheers Ixsc15 (talk) 19:08, January 12, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I managed to work out how to create screenshots without blur. SH2 itself has a keyboard combination for shooting pics with Alt+Q. When pressed, the game creates a .gif and saves it into the 'My Documents' folder. There Stronghold 2 and 'screen' folders are found. Open the files in Paint and edit them any way you want. Concerning with the multiplayer problem, I have a bit complex but reliable idea. I assume that the Gamespy client is the reason (I found a similar complaint on fireflyworlds.com forums for kicking without notification, but there was no solution for this), so a LAN game might be possible. It is true that there is hundreds of miles between us, but here comes the twist: We'll need a tunneling system, which makes the computer think that a broadband connection is a local one. I recommend Hamachi for this purpose. It's simple: one hosts and the other joins so that the connection works (IP address is needed to communicate, so it needs to be shared beforehand). It is a question whether it would work with version 1.4.1. There are rumours that LAN is removed for v1.4 and v1.4.1, but I'm not quite sure about them. Still, the game supports LAN up to v1.3.1. The possible solution should be like this: 1. Patching down SH2 to 1.3.1. This shouldn't be hard if you own SH2 Deluxe, as it comes with an initial version of 1.3D, so it needs only one update to install. Skip further requests to install at the beginning of the game. Reinstalling takes some time, but it should worth the effort in order to play later. 2. Installing Hamachi. We should consult to decide which of us would host, IP address and so forth. 3. We could set up the game as we did before, but the server should be visible under the 'Local Network' tab when got to the lobby (the tab is missing in v1.4.1). Maybe the visibility of the game must be specified by the host. 4. The game should work without problems. Take into account that it is only a possibility to make SH2 multi work. From older forum posts and experience I suspect that Firefly couldn't work out how to make the online gameplay flawless. A local game wouldn't need the connection to the master server, only the two computers independently. That's the main reason that two computers with a good connection should solve the problem. What do you think about it? Cheers (and sorry for the long post), Ixsc15 (talk) 00:02, January 14, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, It's been a time since we spoke to each other. How are you? I finally got time to work with SH2 and done several experiments with the lords and the game, mainly for completing details on the page. I replaced the images sections with galleries, as they can host more columns, offer some picture formats and its alignment can be set not only to the sides but center as well. I still have to work out how to get the missing lords' portraits (so far I had to google them as I can't shoot them with both PrtScrn and Alt+Q from the cutscenes). And the main reason I'm writing for, I could also get round to testing multiplayer. I was much delightful when the game didn't kicked me off to the main menu :) It was on 'Three Bridges', 1500 gold with Baron and three participants (with me), every estate already handed out. My color was green. The gameplay is going to be detailed, don't blame me :) I got the top-right corner, which has nothing to offer but so much wood. It is a defensive position as well, but stone is a bit costly process. I could easily place woodcutters, apple farms and bread production, a statue, some hovels, buildings to contain the annoying criminals, rats and filth, the Lord's kitchen and some weapons buildings. I started off with two fletchers for archers and one building for crossbowmen. Soon I placed the mercenary tent, but left it alone as I was low on gold this time. I gradually placed more apple farms and bakeries as wood came in. I also sold most of the food and wood to invest in more fletchers for crossbowmen (still had more leather from one single workshop to sell:) ) and stone. At this stage I had around 30 archers, 15 crossbowmen, the initial spearmen and archers (sold the spears already given in the armoury) and a lonely berserker. I finally stabilized my economy thanks to the food, wood and leather, so I started securing the northern bridge. I first captured the estate on the other side with a mere 6 berserkers and 2 catapults, then I gradually sent there groups of berserkers and archers to fortify that position. Meanwhile I kept recruiting archers and crossbowmen for defense and ended up with placing two bastions with mangonels and sealing off myself a long wall line. The red enemy (positioned by the top-left corner) used all his money up on some archers and outlaws with almost no production at all. He had some food producers and hovels with a statue covering the negative populatity factors, just a lone quarry to provide stone very far away. He sealed off the bridge to his settlement with an extremely small choke zone with lookout towers and sent most of his troops (a dozen archers and outlaws) to that position. I deployed some catapults there and it took quite a while to move forward, but suffered no casualties. The archers and berserkers made short work of the outlaws. Unfortunately, erecting a siege camp on my foothold and sending some laddermen to conquer the bridge, got noticed by the red lord and he withdrew his troops (with some losses) and deleted the entire area with the exception of a lookout tower. Meanwhile, the orange enemy in the bottom-left corner stabilized his position and sent a small group of spearmen focused on my troops in the foothold. These troops were easily killed by mine. Thanks to the Lord's kitchen (I bought in 5 units of each food) I could promote to Earl, which allowed me to construct fire ballistae. I was so glad to achieve this. I brought two, later four ballistae and started thinning out the red lord's troops at his backup defense line made from wooden walls and a lookout tower. The archers were left behind to guard the fortification, while the rest were sent forth to bring down the puny defense line. As my catapults were destroying the wooden walls, the orange enemy sent a much stronger raid to distract my archers. I noticed it just in time but the berserkers were far away. So I used the siege camp to hire 20 laddermen and sent this troops to block the enemy hobelars and berserkers path. Only a few of them got through and my archers could work freely to dispose of the raiders. I was so relieved when this bigger raid was deflected. Later on, I moved in with my troops to contain the red lord, but he escaped to the main menu rather than tolerating his defeat. Some moments later the orange lord, seeing my superiority and being a coward, retreated as well. This is how my first real multiplayer worked, hopefully you'll also be able to make yours to work as well. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 11:27, January 26, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, Actually, I didn't downgrade the patch of SH2 (it forced me to upgrade to v1.4.1 gradually), so I sticked to the original method. I succeeded to join to German games (and a UK one as well) and it worked me perfectly. So perfectly that I hadn't lost any matches so far. I had tweaked my Internet options, but they were reverted to the default Windows settings, and eventually it worked every time (I hosted in most matches) Yesterday I had a 3v3 match. One of my ally exited right at the beginning, and after my second ally could hardly deflect a weak attack of horse archers with my aid, he followed him, so I was left alone. I spammed bread and wood with honour and fletchers and my numerous knights and crossbowmen finally overthrew the enemy gang. An enemy was brought down with a dozen knights, sneaking up to the walls and walking in the enemy fort. The stronger enemy (who had to help out his friends) sent many horse archers and knights packed with some trebuchets and ballistae right to my castle. When he lost many of his horse archers, he withdrew them, but my defending crossbowmen (around 90) sallied forth and his knights lost their mount, being an easy target to my crossbows. Seeing this defeat, he and later his ally exited, so I was left forever alone to win. Now I'm in testing the AI lords in a custom scenario, hoping my modified castles can provide a much greater efficiency to their economy and play. I also started multiplayer and found some really good servers. As with tomorrow's time, it's great! Hopefully your Internet options are fine and no kickouts will occur :) See you there! Ixsc15 (talk) 17:44, January 31, 2013 (UTC) Hello, Actually, for my Internet I tried using an optimizer program, which offers settings set to a custom bandwidth, or even custom options to adjust. The fact that there are so many things to set manually, I used the program to the dirty work accordingly to my bandwidth. I used the TCPOptimizer program by SpeedGuide (just google it and it should be the first link). First test your bandwidth with http://speedtest.net connecting to a server in Budapest. Run two or three tests to get a middle value. Then install the program (does not need much space), and you should see a window with a slider on the top. Pull the slider to the rough integer your bandwidth is very close to. Then push "Apply changes" in the bottom (you'll have to confirm) and restart the computer. With a Leeds' server, I got 20.3-20.4 Mbps for download. and 115 ms for ping. Anyway, this is only for optimizing your connection, but I have achieved a 2-3 Mbps increment once I applied the recommended settings (on 25 Mbps at home). See if your connection gets working :) Ixsc15 (talk) 10:43, February 1, 2013 (UTC) Hi again, You may have noticed that I moved your mission 8 pages to ones that start with 'Walkthrough: ...'. This is because the SH2 skirmish page has a table of links pointing to each mission's walkthroughs. Your content and format is unchanged, don't worry. In the future, navigate to the SH2 skirmish walkthrough's page, choose your mission in the table and click it, starting thus a new blank page, which is editable then. Just notification. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 11:34, February 1, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I'm going to attempt a 1v1 game, set with a password "strongholdwiki" to test if your connection is working. Then, we can move on a 2v2 game as you have suggested. I'm ready to play! "For fame and glory!" - Swordsman Ixsc15 (talk) 18:22, February 1, 2013 (UTC) You'll find under the name 'Cassius II', the password is 'strongholdwiki'. :D Ixsc15 (talk) 18:47, February 1, 2013 (UTC) Hi! It was a good fight, you fought with deterrent, my comrade! Let's have the team game at 8:30 pm! Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 20:11, February 1, 2013 (UTC) P.S.:Sorry for the word 'deterrent', I intended to use 'hard', my bad... Well, let's have it tomorrow then, although there is a slight chance I won't be available until evening (let's say, roughly 5%), but I'll inform you if I'm '''not 'available. I visit my grandma tomorrow, but I travel out early in the morning, so no need to worry. I can share some useful thingies for multiplayer, for example how to instruct ballistae to fire at many targets at the same time. I look forward to playing tomorrow! Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 20:19, February 1, 2013 (UTC) Hi, I'm ready for the match. Notify me when you're ready and I'll launch the server with my in-game name! "Build your castle well!" - Stronghold 2 intro Ixsc15 (talk) 19:41, February 2, 2013 (UTC) Hi, Thanks for your message! A short briefing for multi: - Learn to navigate between menus, buildings and practise placement. This is very straightforward to say, but it will come over time :) - Fire ballistae are devastating in skilled hands: when you create fire ballistae one by one, tell each ballista to get into one "group" (ctrl + 0-9 to assign). To call the "group", press simply 0-9 for the correspondent ballista (one more press to navigate to it). Since each group consists one ballista, it means that calling all of them in a short time, then assigning targets, will bring multiple casualties for the enemy. I will show it later. I will start the server and good luck! Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 20:15, February 2, 2013 (UTC) Hi Sir Ironside, I wished i could get more iron to defend with... 4 hours of desperate fight, and succumbed to 40 knights. That was the most epic game I have ever played, considering Crusader. In spite of my skills, I had been worn down inch to inch as the defender. I couldn't get any chance to retaliate, as Sir Knight kept strengthening his foothold. I could afford some burning cart and archer rushes, but had to reinforce archers and crossbowmen on the towers. As a first attempt, Knight brought a barrage of cats and catapults. The catapults were constantly pounding the towers and so I kept repairing the towers (5 quarries were just awesome to supply :) ). The ballistae and archers removed some cats and even the catapults, so the siege was deflected with moderate losses. This made Sir Knight to admire my defense. Knight then started setting up fire ballistae, catapults, cats and assembled many knights and horse archers. This force started to advance, but ballistae were replaced, as well as archers and crossbowmen. Setting the assembly point on the top of the towers and my reflexes aided me in holding the defense line. Some trebuchets set up behind my towers succeeded to destroy a siege camp and many fire ballistae, but I had to sally forth. Burning carts, archers, crossbowmen and later, a group of 30 knights rode out. As the catapults got destroyed and his horse archers were left well behind, the knights wreaked havoc and the majority of cats, trebuchets and horse archers got killed. The enemy knights caught up too late and the siege camp in your estate was destroyed, but I lost quite a few knights to burning carts and those sentries. Unfortunately Sir Knight has assembled a good force of knights and horse archers, sealing the way in the east. I assembled 50 knights at the southern estate, but my defense line was taking heavy casualties, so I withdrew my troops to the keep. The ballistae stayed to hold the line, but soon I discovered that my narrow moat was being dug. Assassins... My ballistae were disposed of by the assassins and most of them remained there. The field of traps were sprung by mantlets and cannon-fodders, but some knights also fell into hell. This made Knight wait and gather more troops. This was the time to kill the assassins with berserkers and my own assassins. I extended the minefield and filled the entire area with man traps and killing pits. The hostile troops advanced slowly as they triggered the traps, losing most horses, mantlets and even some knights, delaying them. I think that Knight had been really nervous. I used this "break" to hire many knights and some archers and crossbowmen. Finally, the light blue troops got catapults to break my wall and level my outside buildings. I halted workers to join my army of knights and others. My keep was full of troops (I didn't let troops on the roof as fire ballistae were deployed to remove them), so I rushed out some archers and crossbowmen to distract the attackers, but that didn't do much. A group of 30 mounted knights (no place in the keep)Since I had 70 knights in the keep, Sir Knight had to wait for a long time to convince himself to go after my lord. His troops got to the keep triggering the last set of traps (still with heavy casualties) He sent in about 15 knights but my knights deflected them. My fate was met by 40 knights, who were directly commanded to my lord, ignoring my knights by repeated clicks. I was fighting with glory, making the enemy's work very, very hard as I could. Even though, that wasn't enough to deflect Sir Knight. I suffered a defeat, but a glorious one, turning it into an attrirtion war, where the spammed knights and cats won. Good game, you also did everything you could, we make a good team, and we can be only better! Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 00:28, February 3, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I'm free to play in your suggested time. Message me when you are ready to fight and things will go the same as they did. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 09:12, February 4, 2013 (UTC) Hi, Waiting for your notification. I can set up the server on BELT 2v2 map. Let me know if you want to play on another map, such as 'GL evolution' or RIP (similar to it, 3v3 map, 2 estates in the middle, passages are made of woods instead of water, players in the center are accessible by the two sides only, preplaced hovels and large stone/iron deposits). We will root out the evil in this land! Ixsc15 (talk) 15:42, February 4, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I feel sorry about your illness. Then see each other at a desired time (either of them seems fine), just inform me to set up the server beforehand. If you have ideas concerning the multiplayer map and/or settings, feel free to share it. Speedy recovery, Ixsc15 (talk) 16:48, February 4, 2013 (UTC) Hi pal, I'm glad you fight victorious battles against our enemies. We need such matches you had for the last time: no exiting people during the match and successes in gameplay :) Then, give it a try and host a game. You'll encounter periodic lags (indicated by 'Waiting for players' displayed), but that's the game's flaw, nothing to worry about. It shows up about every 20 to 25 minutes and recovers in a few moments. I promised you a guide just before the match we fought against Sir Knight. Here's the link for the file: http://www.divshare.com/download/23682678-146 It is very short, but should cover most aspects of the gameplay. That's only a summary of my view for multiplayer, but useful in most terms. Some facts you may already now, but the tactics is worth to see. Feel free to comment it :) As with today's multi, I think BELT is really one-sided once either side took control over the center. Since you can't replace those bastions and host mangonels/ballistae in them, you're eventually pinned down and worn down to death (if handled properly). GL Evolution (or the original Grasslands) is very good to play, or I can share the 'Killer Map' beforehand (named RIP in my previous posts). For the latter here's another link (you'll need to have a filename like this due to uploading problems: 'Map ;).s2m): '''http://www.divshare.com/download/23682719-700 I'll more than likely to be available, so just set up the server in the desired time and/or notify me that you're ready :) 'I will lay siege on our common foe' - will you find out? :) Ixsc15 (talk) 10:04, February 5, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: I'm cleaning my talk page somewhat to leave place to newer messages. Hi, I'll be waiting as you said. One important thing in multi: I will be most likely to recruit crossbowmen, knights, horse archers and berserkers. I may also craft bows for some archers in defense, but reduce their numbers, as they pretty don't do much in battles (unless the enemies stick to weaker troops, but I can tell you: they won't :) ). I will cart you mostly iron, wood and bows, but don't be afraid to write your demand in the chat. I know that this is visible to others, but goods are more valuable than this fact. Some welcome presents should be expected as well :) Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 10:28, February 5, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: Also don't forget to check out my new walkthroughs submitted not a very long time ago. :) Hi, The two weapons you request are ones that I completely avoid to produce :) I build iron mines only for profit and I like to buy swords and metal armour for knights, as my economy tends to be very productive from sells and taxation. Never mind, I can utilize some armourers and poleturners for the job, but I like to set off traps with laddermen: they are cheaper (it doesn't matter too much) and they are recruitable in a siege camp, so they need less time to reach their location. You made me think twice that pikemen are actually effective: they are weak in close combat, but their armour makes them able to absorb some punishment. As I use multiple fletchers but consider producing way less archers than before, I may convert some of them to poleturners and armourers, balancing out spears and pike production. I heavily suggest you use crossbowmen in your defenses against tinmen. Knights amassing in great numbers are very destructive and it is urgent to get rid of them very early. Combine them with ballistae and see the result! :) I generally don't suffer from shortages except for the very beginning in the game. I always find I can't have enough flour, as bakers always take it away and I build few mills, but this is solved later. Crossbows might be a constant problem to produce, so if you can, supply me with them (don't need huge loads though, but I always end up buying them, when I'm under attack or replace fallen crossbowmen). The goods are on the way, my lord! Ixsc15 (talk) 11:48, February 5, 2013 (UTC) Hi again :D I only need crossbows for shipment. I can really work my way to produce the other weapons/armour/whatsoever, only crossbows are always used up from my inventory. I invest in huge stacks of gold to buy them, but I'd spend it on other goodies so it'd definitely be better. I hope requesting crossbows is a managable request, as a return favour? :D And expect reinforcements to come to your aid if you're really in trouble, I'm just generous :D Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 12:02, February 5, 2013 (UTC) Hey, It would be acceptable. I can afford similar rates for metal armour/spears, but I may rise it to 20 if my production is capable to produce them fast enough. I can also send you iron when it piles up, 10 per shipment. These are my final rates, additional requests are appreciated depending on your situation during the game as well. "Where is the enemy?" - Swordsman Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 12:12, February 5, 2013 (UTC) Right, any spare goods for profit is always welcome, although some of those bows may be used for defense. Pity that in-game actions are much more limited than in Crusader. You could choose any kinds of goods at 5 different measures, and you could send even gold. They are transferred automatically to your stockpile/gold balance. You could also give orders to attack/request help or goods, which notifies the other player to do something for you and last, but not least, you can choose which players to chat with. It is very depressing to message via the lonely global chat. Still, the carters vulnerability give a good chance to make SH2 much more realistic than its counterpart. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 12:20, February 5, 2013 (UTC) Okay, 15.15 GMT today is fine for you, as you suggested several posts before? Ixsc15 (talk) 12:55, February 5, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, In the meantime, I got an idea on how to tempt players to join in: right before setting up the server, next to your name insert "2v2" or something like that. That should prevent confusion and makes things easier. You had a great defense, but got overrun: bastions are weak and they don't handle much damage over time. If only I hadn't disbanded my horse archers by accident (the "stop" button is right above the "disband" one) In our previous game, Sir Knight easily took off two thirds of my bastion's health with a barrage of 20 catapults. I had hard time repairing those towers, buying in some stone and replacing mangonels. That's a nice task to accomplish, but soon horse archers won. I enjoyed the game and we'll accomplish a lot, I swear! It'd better be worth it! - Outlaw Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 16:48, February 5, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: Should I host the team game server? Hi again, I just got an important task to do. I can return around 6.45 GMT to play. Notify me if there is anything to change. Cheers Ixsc15 (talk) 17:57, February 5, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I'm also fine at the suggested time (right now), so let's play then :) Warrior monks are good units, it's true. When you pump out honor in a vast amount, they can be used very well. It is superior to the fighting monk, who carries a giant earpick, barely useful against troops. But, as you said, they are weak to missile fire. You may have noticed that I create many missile troops, meaning you need to apply them in huge numbers. By luck, SH2 is somewhat poor when it comes to targeting. I think that it forms groups by troops adjacent to each other, as I always see horse archers to concentrate most of their fire on single targets (some arrows hit other targets, but that's way too less). Needless to say, bringing down warrior monks is easier to be done than said. Nevertheless, they are a valuable unit in defense. You'll have a hard time to spam them on enemies, who are strong enough to fend off powerful attacks with a great defense either in the field or the castle, but with precise timing, you can achieve wonderful results (particularly on the AI :D ) "History awaits us!" - Knight Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 15:20, February 6, 2013 (UTC) Hi, I'm ready and waiting for the server. Good luck, Ixsc15 (talk) 16:08, February 6, 2013 (UTC) I'm going to leave Guillame's server and move on another. Let's have a 1v1 or another 2v2, because it won't succeed to progress in this stuck game. Are you in it? Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 16:58, February 6, 2013 (UTC) Hi again, Guillame de Fat Men was finally brought down. I used only pictish boat warriors, catapults and fire ballistae. He didn't have anything bad position, he was just simply forgetful, cowardish and didn't rely on his troops enough, making him such a noob. But that's definitely not a problem, as I was struggling to kill him. After I could fill the moat in, I moved in siege engines and levelled Guillame's defenses. He was left with no troops there, so it was easy. He started worrying when my 160 pictish warriors and numerous siege engines were marching. He had numerous axe throwers, berserkers and spearmen in the keep. Another 60 axe throwers and other leftover troops were scattered on the territory. He could have defeated my army by just sending the berserkers upon me, but he insisted on his troops so much that he moved his berserkers to a small barricade. He sealed himself with three towers with ballistae and mangonels and led his lord, his axe throwers and berserkers there. There were two mounted knights there additionally. He built some walls and moat, and his base buildings which I was busy destroying beforehand. After I felt I mopped up most troops and industry, I moved on the barricade. His axe throwers weren't even on the towers, and the defending engines were quickly disposed of. I started moving in, when suddenly he decided to rush me with all his troops. I took severe losses, but he left before he met his fate. He didn't even use his assassins on me, so it was easy peasy to kill him. This was a strange game and I was grateful for you for keeping this lord pinned down. We should choose are positions well in the next games to prevent such mediocre problems. "The crown is yours!" - the King Ixsc15 (talk) 17:46, February 6, 2013 (UTC) Hi, I'm ready, I'll try to host the server. Ixsc15 (talk) 18:01, February 6, 2013 (UTC) Waiting for you, join in! :) Hi again, Eventually I started a multi 2v2 on BELT. Participants: "RED CIOUD" with orange, "Vjkdf" with green and "Chrisx... " with light blue. 7500 gold, banned trebs and a set peace time with around 10 game years. I allied with CIOUD. Thanks to the peace time, it didn't matter how fast you build up, just don't attack the others. It was ridiculous to see when the two sides assembled in the two estates in the middle. Numerous knights, catapults, fire ballistae, horse archers and cats assembled to the big battle. Both armies suffered casualties, and the frontline moved minimal away. The enemy alliance depleted all its capacity and the my ally kept bringing cats and catapults, so I decided to use up my 50-60 free places in my army. I recruited 50 Pictish boatmen and assembled them on the nearby bordering waters. This small force was sneaking up the green enemy's territories (his land was not entirely walled) until I reached the small passageway. I tested my boatmen's skills and they filled in quite a big section of moat later to be shot down by ballistae. Macemen tried to intervene, but the gate remained well shut so they got stuck inside. I quickly assembled another army of 60 boatmen and this time they were commanded directly to the Lord. The moat was replaced but a flat land section was available to dock. I suffered little casualties on the way, so it seemed to work. By bad luck, the lord was attending a mass, so I had to move the boatmen all the way across the lands, so the green enemy noticed them on the half way. He quickly got some mounted knights and they would have killed my men, if I didn't disband them. After that, the "victim" enclosed his territories and placed some towers with ballistae to cover the waters I used. Finally, some kind offensive begun, but we could retailiate and cause some losses to the enemy. Chris had little time, and I'd got to go too, so we left the game. I did everything I could, although my tactics could have proven more successful, if my timing had been perfect. "(proudly)Another estate has turned to the side of light!" - Lady Seren taking an estate in Kingmaker Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 23:36, February 6, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, Thanks for the war communique. I see that you handled the situation very well. In Freeman games, skill is needed much more in building up than fighting in the battlefield. I hadn't fought one yet in multiplayer, but in Kingmaker, some AI starts right out with 'Duke' conditions and it gains a huge stock, which it uses to quickly build an army (the Queen, the King, Edwin, the Bull and Olaf, respectively). Therefore it is vital to defend yourself with your inferior troops quite well. As with assassins, I'd mention Crusader, as the first game it was introduced in. Assassins have their stealth ability, but with a much higher range they are detectable in. And they are much cheaper at a mere 60 gold. They are very common troops (there is the Nizar which sends only assassins and fire slaves to kill you) in multiplayer as well, where in numbers they were just ineffective against a well-built hedgehog defense, or moat (they cannot fill them in). Even the AI editors found a combination of low and high walls to make it impossible to get in. As in Stronghold 2 its price is extremely high, you can barely afford some of them by terms of honor. You spend honor on knights and cheap troops, and masses/feasts/dances are not very common to hold. In stock maps, it is next to impossible to build an economy focused on honor because of inefficiency. These multi-focusing maps are designed for mass production (including honor harvesting), as it is boring to spend most of the time to build up your army waiting for knights and fancy troops. Other than that, finding an alternate way to bring the enemy to its knees is just a good scouting on the battlefield. Tactics and generals always sought for these routes (like I used pictish warriors in my last game as an attempt). Assassins are not that hard to defend against. Just use some moat with a large gatehouse with plenty of defense and your day is saved. Build thick moats (4-5 tiles tight) so you'll see on the map when a section of moat starts disappearing. Use man traps in front of the moat to filter them or some guards on the walls in defensive stance. Assassins will get pinned down by your awaiting troops, who provide your missile units to execute them. I'm ready at the suggested time and I'll host the server. Please, let's use no peace time (pt) if possible. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 09:41, February 7, 2013 (UTC) Hi, I'm ready to play. Notify me, when I can set up the server. Open SH2 beforehand to make sure you can join :D Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 15:51, February 7, 2013 (UTC) Hi, It's a welcome fact to hear! The server is being set up. "Aaaarrrrgghhhh!!!" - the lord, dying Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 16:59, February 7, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, It's a bit night when I'm writing, but I could get round to writing by now. The multiplayer we were playing got rather tedious after you exited. The similar frontline-attrition thingie was coming, as I should have expected. I didn't put much effort to keep the line however, but it was just tempting to kill the other lord with strategy. The green lord kept producing cats, catapults, trebs and other sorceries and pushed forward, but I harassed him quite a lot. I slowly assembled some pictish warriors, to be ready to make a boat trip. The teal lord was inactive, but walled himself quite much in, blocking the way into the castle. However, I got fed up with that and I set up 10 mangonels, targeting each mangonel as far as I could. Because of their inaccuracy, the teal lord's side walls got slowly consumed by catapulted rocks, so finally I could move in with 102 pictish warriors via a safe route and the lord got clubbed by the boatmen's rows. Meanwhile, your abandoned lord got killed too, but I didn't see how it was done. I was falling back, when suddenly the game exited, leaving the green punk to be the lonely winner. I think it's high time we found a better map for a 2v2, as one choke point proved very little joy. Even the other maps are quite a challenge, where the multiple thousands of bears and outlaw camps are found in the middle, but they get bugged when someone exits because of the preplaced moat, remaining unremovable. Maybe you may have noticed that I highlighted important aspects in walkthroughs and from now on, in character descriptions to the Kingmaker section by making them italic and underlined. Do you think this is a useful thing to do? 'I wissssh I could get drunnnnk like everyone else. It just doesn't seem to af-fect meeee. (hic) - Female Peasant, after having the inn visited Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 22:46, February 7, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: I don't think I'm available today's afternoon, as I'm going to travel out with my family to celebrate a birthday. Saturday is more likely in the evening, but Sunday should have no problems at all. I'm going to notify you whether it fits at Saturday or not. Ixsc15 (talk) 23:17, February 7, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, Good name for you! It is a pity that he was killed in the War of Roses, but you should defend the House of Lancaster with pride and determinity! I'm waiting you, you can host the server. Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 20:13, February 10, 2013 (UTC) Hi there, I'm ready today (on Monday) from around 16:00 CET (15:00 GMT) until the evening to play. As university starts from this week, I am less available on weekdays (except for Monday and Tuesday). Shall we have a 2v2 (no pt, other map than BELT, no assassins on request) in the afternoon, with me hosting the game? Notify me when you are ready to play. In the future, please leave me some 10-15 minutes after your post to react, as I have to notice the mail incoming to my e-mail address then type the answer for you. This can prevent further games from not having played. 'Now let's have the puppy!' - the Bull, taunting on siege in the campaigns Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 23:41, February 10, 2013 (UTC) Hi, I'm ready to host the server, let me know if you're ready :) Ixsc15 (talk) 16:46, February 11, 2013 (UTC) Hi, I'm glad that Vic can soon join us to the battleforge, soon hosting :) As with SH3, it has got a generally bad reception. The game was released way earlier than it could be finished and it needed a swarm of patches to make up for the initial flaws. Firefly stated it was due to financial and copyright managements (third-party companies sponsored FF at that time). I haven't played it, but it has some facts, which can be quite unwelcome. One of the most annoying aspects is popularity and population system derived from SH Kingdoms (a very good network game, free at all and play it, if you got the time, I'm sure I don't have it :( ). Hovel population is based on the distance from the keep: the farther it is, the less people inhabit it. It's just cruel. The other is the popularity: there is a counter for leaving/joining the castle, which resets at very long intervals. It sums up all the factors and you'll see a great dropdown from 100 to 65, then climbing back immediately at 83 for instance. It is very detailed in graphics, but critics and fans condemn its aspects. It is clearly seen that this game is unfinished. Anyway, if you want to taste SH3, I highly recommend you played Crusader. The original Stronghold only consists of 4 characters, but Crusader has a bit more detailed storyline and a more resembling gameplay: introduced mercenary post, fire ballistae, killing pit (similar to man traps in SH2) and 16 AI characters (with Warchest, but you can torrent it) in a very customizable skirmish mode. 'Let's ride!' - Knight Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 17:10, February 11, 2013 (UTC) P.S.: The server is live! Hi mate, I got home and I'm ready for the game. Find me at the multiplayer lobby. 'That was gonna be my dinner' - engineer, launching a cow Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 19:04, February 12, 2013 (UTC) Hi comrade, This was an amazing game! Both of us had successful wars, battles and the glory to take the scalp of the hostile resistants! Shall we have another game? You can mail me on the live chat for a real-time talk:) Cheers, Ixsc15 (talk) 20:11, February 12, 2013 (UTC)